Around the Industry 177
RAM RECALLS MILLIONS OF TRUCKS
FCA US LLC is conducting a voluntary safety recall to inspect and service, as required, wiring harnesses in an estimated 1.06 million U.S.-market trucks and nearly 236,000 Canadian-market trucks. An investigation by FCA US discovered certain trucks might have steering-wheel wiring harnesses that wear because of contact with a spring. Such wear may cause a short-circuit that may lead to inadvertent driver-side air-bag deployment.
The Company is aware of two related injuries, but no accidents. An analysis of warranty data linked to steering-wheel wiring harnesses determined less than one percent of all such repairs involved inadvertent air-bag deployment.
The condition, which may be signaled by illumination of the air-bag warning light, relates to vehicles equipped with an Electronic Vehicle Information Center (EVIC) and may not be present in every vehicle subject to the recall. But FCA US will, at no charge to customers, inspect every affected vehicle and, as required, tie back its wiring harness and install protective caps on its air-bag retainer spring-ends.
Affected are certain model-year 2012-2014 Ram 1500, 2500 and 2500 pickups and 3500, 4500 and 5500 Chassis Cabs. Additional vehicles numbering approximately 235,925 in Canada, 26,543 in Mexico, and 23,635 outside the NAFTA region will also be recalled.
SPECIAL EDITION OF FINAL DEFENDER
No, you haven’t been able to purchase a new Land Rover Defender in Canada for quite some time, but we still think it's a sad day over in Solihull, England. Whenever a true utilitarian 4WD see’s its demise, we here at 4WDrive Magazine shed a little tear in remembrance. Well, Land Rover themselves are getting a bit sentimental as well, so they have commissioned a special tribute one-of-a-kind Defender that will be sold at an exclusive charity auction at Bonhams auction house.
The “Defender 2,000,000” vehicle features a plethora of distinctive finishing touches. A map of Red Wharf Bay – where the design for the original Land Rover was first drawn in the sand – is engraved into the aluminum fender, which contrasts with the exterior Indus Silver satin paint. A unique 'no 2,000,000' badge sits on the rear of the vehicle, which is mirrored on the interior console. The design is finished with Santorini Black wheels and wheel arches, roof, door hinges, grille and mirror caps. Inside, the leather seats also feature the 'Red Wharf Bay' graphic and 'no 2,000,000' logos have been stitched on the headrests. A bespoke aluminum plaque, signed by everyone who helped to assemble the vehicle is fitted to the driver's seat plinth.
MINI SIGN HIRVONEN FOR DAKAR
Finland’s Miko Hirvonen may not be a big name here in Canada, but in the rallying world, he is the peoples champion, unable to crack the unbeatable combination of Sebastien Loeb and Citroen in the WRC. After announcing his retirement in 2014, Hirvonen is now resurfacing on the motorsports scene as he has just signed on as a lead driver with the four-time Dakar winning MINI ALL4 Racing team run by X-Raid.
To provide him the best possible support on the way to coping with the new challenge, X-raid will team Hirvonen up with the experienced co-driver Michel Périn. Périn is a four-time Dakar winner who celebrated his last Dakar-win in 2014, together with Nani Roma. In June, he tested the MINI ALL4 Racing in Morocco for the first time and will contest several rallye raids in preparation for the Dakar rally later this January.